A Lesson in Combat
by jojoDO
Summary: Leona teaches her partners a thing or two about how to fight smart, not brutish.


Ralf charges head-on, plowing into Clark's large frame with his arms already extended. Before his comrade-in-arms can stuff his attack, Ralf quickly seizes his waist in a body lock, interlacing his fingers to keep his grasp tight. Clark stumbles backwards, carrying his partner's weight, but he manages to stay upright. To combat the relentless incursion, he tries to lean down, pressing his weight on top of Ralf to stifle his efforts. Ralf is forced to bend his knees, slowly sinking lower and lower to the ground in a desperate attempt to maintain his footing.

"Ralf, let it go. You're expending too much energy." a female voice criticizes from the sidelines.

"I can get him!" Ralf barks in response, his teeth angrily clenched as his face reddens from his straining.

"You're gassing yourself out."

"RRRAGH!"

Ralf pushes forward, lunging with his knees in an effort to put Clark on his back. But his partner wisely torques with his hips, and Ralf is tossed aside easily.

"See?"

"Ah can it Leona! Just let me work!"

With a roll of her eyes, the blue haired daughter of Heidern merely stands back and puts her hands on her hips. She's not wearing her combat attire on such a hot day: a short denim pair of shorts accommodates her, giving her freedom of movement while also exhibiting those long, well-toned legs of hers. An olive green tanktop comfortably hugs her torso, complimenting her curves quite nicely while resting high on her stomach to show a little navel.

Her two meathead comrades, currently duking it out, are also dressed appropriately, clad in white tanktops and black polyester shorts. All three of them are wearing comfort-fitting tennis shoes, for maximum effectiveness and mobility.

Ralf falls to his knees, his arms still desperately clung around Clark's waist... but he's losing his grip slowly. Clark squeezes his wrists tight, slowly prying his hands apart... but he makes one fatal mistake.

"Don't give up your- BACK! Clark!"

Clark tried to pivot his hips to twist out of Ralf's grip... but in doing so, he exposed his back. Ralf immediately dived on his waist once more, now clinging to him from behind. Clark stumbles forward, desperately trying to pry his fingers... but Ralf was not denied this time. The bandana-wearing warrior drags Clark to the ground, making his shades-wearing partner go down on all fours.

Leona shakes her head in pity as she watches Clark try to fight back up to his feet. He manages to get on one foot... but Ralf has other plans.

"GRRAAAAAAAGH!" with a ferocious yell, Ralf lifts Clark into the air and sprints forward, his partner's weight making him stumble forward like a bicycle rolling downhill. He runs until his feet give out and they hit the ground, slamming Clark facefirst into the dirt.

"Ooof!" his stoic partner grunts as he's laid out flat like a pancake, Ralf's full body weight on top of him.

"Uh oh. You're in trouble now, Clark." Leona teases, a tiny little grin on her lips.

But Clark is far from worried. Already he's working his way back up to his feet. He uses his forearms to push upwards, just enough that he can get on one knee. One knee leads to both knees... pretty soon Ralf is being lifted up until he's riding piggyback. Ralf tries to press down on him and make him collapse... but he's too tired.

Carrying Ralf's weight on his back, Clark manages to posture up just enough to get some propulsion on his knees. With a HUGE exertion of raw strength, Clark dives forward and barrel rolls, completing the maneuver as his own body smashes Ralf against the ground and makes him lose his grip. The sunglasses-wearing soldier manages to get away and scramble to his feet, distancing himself before Ralf can regain his footing.

"Good, Clark! Nice roll." Leona compliments, her face unchanging. She's still far from impressed.

Ralf shoots in once again, but Clark is able to easily seize him under the armpits and stop his tackle. Taking advantage of his partner's fatigue, Clark begins raining knees deep into the abdomen of Ralf. Each one sinks deeper into his solar plexus, sapping his strength and knocking the breath from his body.

"Break off the clinch, Ralf! Damn!" Leona chastises. "You're just doing more harm than good!"

But Ralf doesn't listen. He never does, when it comes to changing his fighting style. He only knows one way: brute force.

With an animalistic grunt, Ralf snatches Clark's arm, drapes it over his shoulder, and actually manages to lift his partner over his head in a fireman's carry, despite his current exhaustion.

Holding Clark horizontally on his shoulders, Ralf looks over at Leona with a grin, seeking her acknowledgement. But much to his chagrin... she only closes her eyes and shakes her head.

This seemed to aggravate the bandana-clad soldier a bit, as he then attempted to slam Clark on his head in a display of furious aggression. Luckily, Clark managed to hang onto him a little as he went to the ground, softening the impact enough that he could scramble to his feet. But once again, Ralf homes in on him and tries to clinch with him.

"That's not a good idea." Leona points out. "Clark's about to turn the tables on you."

"Oh yeah?!" Ralf growls.

"Yeah. Right... about... now."

As if on cue, Clark pulls guard on Ralf and collapses to the ground on his back. However, he manages to hook his legs around Ralf's stomach and then, using his momentum, seized Ralf's arms and does a complete backwards barrel roll, sending Ralf on a wild ride in mid-air. The end result is Ralf pinned to the ground... and Clark on top of him in a full mount.

With a sly smile, Clark raises his fist and Ralf immediately recoils... but the punch never comes.

"Alright, alright, that's enough. I can't stand to watch you two for another second. You're awful!" Leona gripes, approaching the two as they get back to their feet with hard panting exchanged between them.

"Huff...huff... huff... you think... you can... do better...?" Ralf wheezes.

Leona's face is stoic, seemingly unfazed by Ralf's sudden challenge. She merely steps a few yards away from them, before turning and facing them in her combat stance.

"The two of you need to learn a thing or two. I'll show you how it's done. Come at me."

Clark and Ralf look at each other, then at their blue-haired counterpart.

"...You serious?" Ralf inquires, obviously a rhetorical question.

"Do I look like the joking type to you, Ralf?" Leona fires back with her own rhetorical question.

With a scratch of his head, Ralf grins. "Point well made. Well then, you asked for it! Cmon, Clark. We can take her."

About half a minute of no sudden movements are shared between the three, as Clark and Ralf stand on one side, while Leona faces them from an adjacent position. There's no hint of reluctance or restraint in her demeanor; she seems perfectly willing to fight a battle where the odds are against her.

Composure on her face, Leona extends a single finger, beckoning them to come forward.

"HYAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The two of them give a simultaneous battle cry as they charge towards the daughter of Heidern, arms extended. Ralf surprisingly closes distance quicker than Clark, despite having used up tremendous energy so far.

He tries to go for the clinch, but Leona scoffs and grabs his forearm. Dropping to her back, she sinks her foot into Ralf's stomach and launches him through the air. She springs back to her feet, only hearing Ralf's cry of pain and a loud thud behind her.

Clark closes distance and shoots in for a double leg, but Leona easily sprawls and stops him. Unable to secure her legs, Clark is exposed completely. Leona capitalizes on this with a smile, as she pushes down on his head to vault herself upwards, turning 180 in mid air and locking her legs around his waist.

Clark howls in agony as Leona traps his head in her bicep and painfully cranks on his neck. She does this not with the intent of killing or maiming... just a few seconds, enough to make him hurt a little.

Ralf is back on his feet, charging towards Leona with vengeance in mind. But the daughter of Heidern merely smirks and leaps into the air, placing one hand on his crown to vault upwards and somersaults over his head. As she lands behind the puzzled Ralf, a kick to the back of his knee buckles him. Leona follows up by vaulting upwards on his shoulders, extending her legs to trap his neck between her thighs. With momentum built up, Leona twists and dives into the dirt, taking Ralf's entire body with her. The intense strain on his neck combined with the hard impact rendered the bandana-clad warrior unable to continue.

Leona was so busy dealing with Ralf that she failed to notice Clark close in on her... until it was too late. The next thing she knew, her feet left the ground and she was being lifted high.

Clark lifts her so high her crotch is level with his face. He gets a running start to really add speed and momentum to his inevitable takedown. Finally, he pushes off with his feet and dives forward, slamming Leona on her back like a sack of potatoes.

Leona feels the wind leave her body for a second. She wants to wheeze... but she doesn't dare show weakness. She instead acts immediately, before Clark can crawl up her body any further. Quickly sliding her legs out from his grasp, she locks her calf around the back of his neck and presents her shinbone to his throat. Judging from his choked gasp of air, she's immediately cut off the oxygen flow. But she doesn't want to hurt her partner... just turn the tables on him.

Instead of pursuing the choke, Leona pivots with her hips and throws Clark aside, letting go of his neck in the process.

As Leona gets up and dusts herself off, she scans her surroundings. To her left, she can see Clark coughing and getting back up to his feet. To her right... an angry Ralf is closing in on her. What to do? Any normal person would panic at this stage... but Leona is a soldier. Her creed is to keep calm in even the more perilous of situations. Adapt and overcome.

Ralf closing in from the right. Clark coming from the left. No problem. Take them both out at the same time.

With a flick of her hair and a scoff, Leona leaps up and slams the sole of her foot into Ralf's face, immediately disorienting him. But the flying kick serves a dual purpose: she bends her knee and then LAUNCHES herself off of Ralf's face, towards Clark. Ralf is sent flying backwards, finally landing on his butt.

With her arms extended, she seizes Clark's neck with a mid-air headlock and brings him down to the ground HARD. Clark didn't have a ghost of a chance of staying on his feet; the momentum and weight of Leona plowing into him was the equivalent of being hit by a wet mattress.

With one final crank of his neck, Clark howls with anguish and taps.

The blue haired soldier gets back up to her feet, looking around to admire her handiwork. Ralf is sitting in the dirt, nursing his nose which took the full force of Leona's shoe. On the other side, Clark is laying down with a hand on his neck, grimacing. Neither of them would be getting back up.

Now that the action was over... it was time for words again.

"See? The two of you rely too much on your muscles. Especially you, Ralf." she points. Ralf hears her, but he still doesn't look in her direction.

Leona shrugs and dusts off her hands. "You need to be quick in a fight. Quick, and agile. Use your limbs to their fullest potential. LEVERAGE, not strength. You build up less lactic acid that way."

She looks around one more time: neither of them are going to respond to her. It's not that they're not able to; they're probably just angry and embarrassed that they lost so decisively. With this in mind, Leona decides to just walk away and leave them to their anguish.

"When you two are done crying, let's go get a drink."

 **THE END**


End file.
